BUSINESSES in downtown Port-of-Spain were dealt a “bad blow” by yesterday afternoon’s “combination punches” of flash flooding and the loss of electricity said president of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), Gregory Aboud.

“Those of us operating businesses in downtown PoS have a special understanding of how much work is still to be done for the development of our country. Today (Wednesday) we were without electricity in areas south of Prince Street and across the width of the shopping district, from Richmond Street in the west to Nelson Street in the east, because of what we understand was a massive failure of crucial equipment at TTEC’s (Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission) Wrightson Road, PoS sub-station.”

Regarding the flash flooding which occurred around 1.30 pm yesterday; the same time as the power outage, Aboud told Newsday he was renewing his call for the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure to “ramp up bridges along the East Dry River,” namely at Park Street, Piccadilly Street and by River Side Plaza.

Aboud also said “ramping up bridges that cross the Diego Martin River would protect those areas from some floods, thus reducing a repeat of the recent flood-related tragedies” in Diego Martin and environs.

A check of the downtown area between 2 pm and 3 pm yesterday revealed that most businesses along Queen Street, Edward Street, Frederick Street, Chacon Street, and environs were without power. Nicholas Tower on Independence Square South was one of the few buildings running on generator power, hence businesses located there were operating as normal. Several of those less fortunate businesses chose to do cash-only transactions while others locked up and waited to see how soon power would be restored, which occurred at 3.15 pm